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PDA emergency!
You might repair - instead of toss - your indispensable but aging handheld organizer 01/30/2003
"My PDA dropped in the toilet. I have been heating it and spinning it
around in a sock but it doesn't seem to help. What about putting it in my
refrigerator? It dries things out. Maybe my dehydrator? It dries our
fruit."
Untold thousands of these handhelds lie dead or dying in drawers, their
screens cracked and batteries depleted. There is ample evidence that
most of their owners trundle off to buy a replacement and go on with
their lives.
But with the economy flat and incomes stagnant, companies specializing
in PDA repairs are reporting an uptick in business as consumers wrangle
more life out of their investments.
The cost of most PDA repairs rarely exceeds $120, and new models can
cost $200 or more, depending on the brand and features. If your unit
breaks early in its life, you can usually get a replacement from the
manufacturer.
But once the warranty expires, options dwindle, say repair experts such
as Robby Staley, president and founder of GetHighTech.com.
"You can either fix it yourself or let us do it," Mr. Staley says.
Companies such as Palm will accept damaged products for a minimum charge
of about $100, then either repair the unit within a couple weeks or send
back a refurbished model.
Outfits such as GetHighTech of Morgan Hill, Calif., and STNE Corp. of
Everett, Wash., provide low-cost alternatives. Judging from the volumes
of repairs and memory upgrades reported by these firms, consumers are
responding.
"Of course, people lie to us about what really happened," says Will
Stillwell, owner of STNE, which is changing its name to PDA Specialists.
"But when you get into their Palm and see coffee stains inside there,
you get an idea."
The No. 1 repair need is for cracked screens, the companies say. The
thin film of glass, or "digitizer," covering a PDA's liquid crystal
display was never meant for rough treatment.
"Even if you drop it on a carpet, there's a high probability of cracking
a screen," says Mr. Staley, who fixes more than 2,000 units each month.
"It's not just Palms; it's the same for any PDA manufacturer."
Of the 20 to 30 repairs done by STNE each week, "99 percent of it is
user foul-ups involving the PDA screen," says Mr. Stillwell. "Sometimes
we can fix the screen with new glass, but other times the LCD needs to
be replaced, too."
Either way, screen repairs at STNE range between $60 and $129 – much
less than the cost of a replacement. Turnaround time is usually 24
hours, he says.
At GetHighTech, Mr. Staley charges a flat $20, nonrefundable diagnostic
fee for all units sent into the company headquarters. If a complete
screen replacement is needed, costs range from a low of $50 for Palms to
a high of $70 for Handspring Visors in addition to the $20 diagnosis.
The second-most-frequent repair is the replacement of worn-out internal
batteries. As Palm IIIs and Vs enter their fourth year of use, Mr.
Stillwell says, death of the battery is common.
"To a certain extent, yes, the manufacturers plan for their batteries to
go out," says Mr. Stillwell. "It's a good opportunity to up-sell to the
next PDA."
On the other hand, replacement batteries can be installed for about $50,
so there's no need to buy a new model if you're satisfied with the
performance of your handheld.
As for PDAs that fall into the toilet, many times they can be restored
to working order, Mr. Stillwell says. But most repair companies won't
even attempt to fix units dropped into saltwater because the salt
corrodes interior electronics.
Mr. Staley and Mr. Stillwell say the items most often repaired are about
the same on all PDAs. In other words, no one brand is worse than another.
However, Sony Clies are the most complex to take apart and reassemble,
which often leads to higher repair costs, Mr. Stillwell says.
When batteries fail, users are likely to lose any stored data. That's
because memory on handhelds is usually RAM, which is dumped when power
to the main board is cut off.
Unless the user has backed up all his PDA data on a PC before the power
loss, it is gone forever, Mr. Stillwell says.
"There really is no data recovery on PDAs," he says.
For the more technically adept owners of broken handhelds,
GetHighTech.com offers parts and free, online do-it-yourself repair
manuals for most major brands. In fact, Mr. Staley started his business
by fixing PDAs whose owners had bungled their repairs.
Last year, more than 3 million visitors hit Mr. Staley's Web site for
repair tips.
"We're not just after the almighty dollar," he says. "Our goal has
always been to help people."
Prices for new PDAs are constantly dropping. Palm recently introduced
the $99 Zire, which would seem to portend upheaval within the PDA repair
business. If new PDAs can be bought for less than the cost of repairs,
why bother to fix one?
But Mr. Staley doesn't believe plunging prices are a threat because most
repairs involve a single, low-cost replacement part.
"Man," he says, "as long as they keep making them with those screens
that crack, we're going to be fine."
E-mail dbedell@dallasnews.com
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